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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Malasadas are one of the all time favorite snacks at community functions and fund-raisers. If you make this, you will rapidly become popular with all of your local friends. A non-traditional (read haole) way of preparing this is to add nutmeg or cinnamon to the sugar mixture that is used to coat the maladsadas.

ProcedureDissolve yeast, sugar and water and set aside. Beat eggs. Measure flour into mixing bowl and add salt. Make a well in the flour, pour yeast mixture, eggs and other ingredients. Beat in circular motion until the dough is soft. Cover, let raise until double. Turn dough over but do not punch down. Cover and let raise again. Heat oil to 375 degrees and drop dough by teaspoon full into oil and cook until brown. Shake in brown bag with sugar. Best when hot.

Note: If the malasadas have a tendency to come out with the center still doughy, turn the heat down on the oil which will allow them to cook longer.

1. Cut the pork into long strips, 2 inches wide. 2. Score each strip of meat with 3 or 4 shallow diagonal cuts for better absorption of the marinade. 3. Make the marinade: Combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sugar, rice, wine, oil and salt. Add the pork and turn to coat. 4. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. 5. Preheat the oven to 375°F. 6. Remove the pork from the marinade; reserve the marinade and add it to the honey. 7. Place the strips of pork on a wire rack in a baking pan. 8. Pour water into the pan just below the level of the rack. 9. Roast for 20 minutes. 10. Turn the strips over, brush them with the honey marinade, and continue to roast until the pork is no longer pink when cut in the thickest part, about 20 minutes. Cut into slices and serve hot or cold.

Monday, February 25, 2008

ʻOtai is a fruit drink which originated in Tonga and is usually made as a summertime refreshment. It is a blend of water, coconut milk and any variety of pulped tropical fruit such as coconut, watermelon, mango and pineapple but is almost always watermelon as it is plentiful in Tonga. A small amount of sugar may be added, although the recipe is considerably sweet on its own.

The most popular variation is a simple blend of coconut milk, watermelon and mango. Ice cubes might also be added to make a sort of smoothie.

1 Ripe Seedless Watermelon halved and sliced
1 can of Crushed Pineapples
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
1 can of Evaporated milk
1/2 Cup Sugar
Water
Ice Cubes1/2 a fresh lime squeezed
Directions:
In a large bowl grate watermelon with a fork making sure melon is not in huge chunks. (If you don't use a seedless watermelon make sure that most of the black seeds are removed with a spoon)

Add Pineapple and it's juices, Coconut, Evaporated Milk, and two cans of water using the can of milk. Stir.

Add Sugar and stir add more to taste. I love to add fresh lime squeezed into it. It just brightens up the taste

Friday, February 22, 2008

Cooking Instructions:Rub pork with liquid smoke and salt all over. Enclose in aluminum foil and bake at 275 for approximately 4-5 hours. Do not open foil to peek. Remove from oven. Open foil and shred with two forks. Can remove fat if desired. Can use next day for Kalua pork and cabbage. Place foil package in glass baking dish if neatness is an issue. If you can get ti leaves, you can wrap pork in leaves then foil. Not necessary though.

I had a request for this recipe from a fellow LDS blogger Alice @ I'm So Funny. This is the easy version that tastes just as good as the version with buns made from scratch. Hope you try it out, they are soooooo good!

Follow directions for frozen dinner rolls. Let rolls rise in a 13" X 9" cake pan. In a quart sauce pan, mix coconut milk, water and sugar. In a small bowl, mix corn starch and a few tablespoons of cold water till all clumps are gone. Bring the coconut sauce to a boil then add the cornstarch mixture. Simmer for about 3 minutes (sauce will thicken a little), then remove sauce from heat. Bake rolls. After 10 minutes take out rolls and pour the coconut sauce over the rolls till 1/2 to 3/4 of each bun is covered in sauce. Put the rolls back in the oven and continue baking the rolls with the sauce until the tops of the rolls are golden brown. Remove pan and allow a few minuites to cool. Serve warm.

Left over sauce can be used to smother rolls when served individually or for a second pan of Pani Popo

Substitutes: You can use any dinner roll recipe instead of the bag of frozen rolls. However, if you have never made bread before, you'll find the frozen rolls are very easy in comparison.

PANI POPO (COCONUT BUNS)
9 cups flour, divided use
3 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
You'll need two 8 1/2-inch-by-11-inch baking pans for this recipe.
Set aside 3 cups of flour. Mix 6 cups flour and yeast. Heat milk, butter, sugar and salt until warm and butter is just melting (about 120 degrees). Add this to the flour and yeast mixture. Mix for 30 seconds on low speed; then mix for 3 minutes on high speed.
With wooden spoon, add the rest of the flour; knead for 6 to 8 minutes. Place dough in a large greased bowl; flip once to grease both sides of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
While dough is rising, prepare coconut sauce:
4 cans (14 ounces) coconut cream
2 cups sugar
Mix well in bowl with whisk. Set aside.
Make a fist and punch down middle of dough to collapse dough.
Divide dough into 2 parts; let rest on lightly floured surface for 10 minutes. Roll out into a rectangle about 16 inches by 9 inches. Brush top of dough lightly with coconut sauce.
Roll dough tightly into a long roll. Cut into 9 pieces. Place in baking pan. Repeat with second half of dough. Cover and let rise another 30 minutes. Pour 3 cups of coconut cream over each pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 18 buns.

Heat ~1/2 Tbsp oil and saute the chopped onion until almost transparent, brown on the edges and soft. (If you don't cook them completely, they will be crunchy in the final product.) Remove from heat and place in a small bowl.

Heat remaining oil in a large pan and stirfry chopped chasiu until soft.

Meanwhile combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir until mixed. Add sauce and onion to sauteing charsiu. (Warning: quality/taste of sauce in almost completely dependent upon the individual ingredients.)

Heat and stir until homogeneous and bubbling.

Combine the 1/2 Cup chicken stock with the cornstarch in a jar, shake to completely dissolve.

Add to the hot meat mixture, stir until thickened.

When the mixture is thickened, remove from the heat.

Set aside to cool, then refrigerate or use immediately. Don't fill bau with hot or cold meat mixture! Use it at room temperature for best results.

Take 1/4 cup warm water, a pinch of sugar and yeast package, combine in a small bowl and allow to stand until foamy.

In a large bowl place sugar and pour in room temperature/warm milk. Mix with wire whip until sugar is dissolved.

Add two cups of cake flour and mix well.

Add salt, baking powder and canola oil and mix well.

Add yeast mixture and mix well.

Slowly add the remaining 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Combine well, but do not knead excessively to avoid gluten formation.

Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. (It takes me ~2 1/2 hours in a closed microwave with a jar of boiling water.)

Punch down, cut into ~24 pieces and form dough balls. Allow dough balls to rest for about 15 minutes.

Roll out each dough ball to a disk ~4" in diameter. (Mine look like an albino sunny side up egg. There is a large lump of dough left in the center to compensate for all the dough gathered on the bottom when closing the disk around the meat.)

Place ~1 heaping Tbsp of filler into center of disk, pinch closed and twist.

Place in a warm, moist place to rise for about 30 minutes. (Again, I do this in a closed microwave with freshly boiled water in a jar.)

Place the covered bamboo steamer over a wok with about 1" of boiling water. The water should be about 2" from the bottom of the steamer.

Steam for 15 minutes, then remove from heat. (I do not remove the bau from the steamer immediately. I wait for about 1/2 hour to allow the bau to cool and "set" before exposing them to room temperature. This reduces the thermal shock and seems to prevent the formation of "divots" on the surface of the dough.)

Stamp top center gently with rubber stamp and red food coloring.

Serve hot or freeze to retain freshness. Frozen bau may be reheated by wrapping with a paper towel and microwaving for 1 minute.

To steam: Place 3 empty cans in a stock pot large enough to hold bundt pan. Add water to cover cans, and bring water to a boil. Place bundt pan on cans; cover and steam 40 to 45 minutes or until a bamboo skewer inserted in cake tests clean. (Some cooks oven-bake puligi or steam it in an imu, or underground oven.)

Spread remaining 3 tablespoons margarine over a large plate. Up-end cake onto plate and gently remove bundt pan. Then, up-end cake again onto a serving plate, so "buttery" top is right side up. Makes 24 slices.

This tasty dish has many variations and is great alone or with any Asian meal or similar sides.

2 lbs. chopped beef (chuck steak) or chicken

5 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 oz ginger – grated1 cup mixed carrots and peas*

1 cup soy sauce

(veggies can be fresh or frozen,

or you can also use chopped cabbage)

1 cup beef or chicken broth

6 3.8 oz. bags of Long Rice Noodles

3 Tbsp. oil

Prepare noodles – bring 3 quarts water to a boil. Add noodles and turn off heat. Soak noodles until softened.

Sauté meat in oil for 3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Add broth and soy sauce and cook 5 more minutes. Drain noodles and stir into meat mixture with vegetables. (You may have to add more liquid as needed as the noodles may absorb some of the liquid.)

* La`ai chose canned vegetables in this recipe in keeping with Samoan ‘tradition.’ In other words, fresh and frozen vegetables can be difficult to come by in Samoa for various reasons. Canned, Frozen, or fresh. The choice is yours!

** Depending on your cut of meat, you may boil tougher cuts for ½ hour before sautéing.6-8 servings

Thursday, February 14, 2008

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